[apps-discuss] IETF technical plenary: the end of application protocols

[Dave CROCKER <[e-mail]>]

Folks,

I just saw the announcement for the Technical Plenary presentation.

As described, the session suggests a failure to recognize at least two 
architectural issues.

One is that it mandates full-time connectivity.  The other is that protocols
that it says are no longer needed are in fact still needed in some form, albeit
as a layer above HTTP, rather than TCP.

Replacing TCP with HTTP does not eliminate the requirement for purpose-built
application protocols, such as specialized mailbox access.

On the other hand, it does tend to encourage an explosion of competing,
incompatible application protocols, making for rather remarkable burdens on
servers and clients.

The summary also neglects to mention rather significant security concerns in all 
this real-time application downloading...

d/


> The Future of Applications
>
>
> Advancements in the design of web browsers have introduced fundamental
> changes to the architecture of application protocols. The widespread
> availability and growing sophistication of JavaScript interpreters in
> browsers enables web servers to push to browsers all of the application
> logic required to implement a client-server protocol. Consequently, many
> client-server applications that once required an installed client on a host
> computer now can rely simply on a modern browser to act as a client for the
> purposes of a particular application. For example, where once email clients
> required a custom application to access an inbox, increasingly a web browser
> can serve this purpose as well as the purpose-built applications of the
> past. Similarly, HTTP with the assistance of JavaScript can subsume the
> functions performed by the protocols like POP3 and IMAP. The need for
> Internet standards beyond HTTP to implement an email inbox application
> consequently diminishes - why author standards and worry about
> interoperability of clients and servers when the server can simply push to
> the client all the code it needs to be interoperable?
>
> Many client-server applications on the Internet could potential migrate to
> this post-standardization environment. In this environment, there is of
> course still a role for the IETF to play: existing working groups like HyBi
> and OAuth are examples of areas where standards work is still required to
> support this application development paradigm. Collectively, we need to
> identify areas where the standardization is unlikely to be relevant in the
> future, and focus our efforts on those areas where our application designs
> will remain impactful. The goals of this session are to explore future areas
> of IETF work surrounding this evolution.
>
> Speakers: Jonathan Rosenberg (Skype) Harald Alvestrand (Google) Henry S.
> Thompson (W3C)

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net